In the imperial capital of the Eastern Empire.
In the imperial palace there, which at present was also Serdea’s territory—
three figures sat facing one another.
One was Serdea Polanticia, who could be called the ruler of the Eastern Empire. Another was Airinna Polanticia, the ruler of the Southern Empire.
And lastly—
Contanias Planticia, ruler of the Northern Empire, sat in his seat.
Ordinarily, a gathering like this would have been impossible.
Even if they were siblings born of the same bloodline, they still stood in opposition to one another.
That was why, when Serdea had invited them, she had thought that even if Airinna came, Contanias never would.
“...Tch.”
But contrary to expectations, Contanias was here, though he did let a bit of his displeasure show.
‘Don’t worry. I’ll make all the preparations for you.’
Seeing him there, Serdea recalled a certain voice.
The words of the woman who had come to find her several months ago, smiling as she told her the way for the Empire to survive.
“Hm— I thought you wouldn’t come, but you did.”
As Serdea was thinking, Airinna was the one who spoke.
At that, Serdea stopped thinking, and Contanias, who had been frowning until just a moment ago, clicked his tongue.
“...I did not come because I wanted to see you. I merely had no choice because of the desperate request.”
“It doesn’t seem like Serdea begged you that desperately, though?”
“I think I get it. You got threatened into coming, didn’t you?”
“Shut up.”
Contanias’s reaction to Airinna’s words was easy enough to read.
Hearing them, Serdea had no trouble grasping the outline of what had happened.
“...Did she go to you as well?”
“Why else would I come all the way into the deepest part of the East?”
“...Tch.”
Airinna’s answer, and Contanias turning his head away with a huff as though this whole situation displeased him—
that alone was enough of an answer, so Serdea was about to ask something, but—
“I’ll say this first. I didn’t hear any story from her. Contanias probably didn’t either.”
“Hmph. I did.”
“What story?”
“Do you think I’d tell you?”
“So you didn’t hear it, then.”
“What?”
“You’ve always been bad at lying. When you think you’re about to get caught, you stupidly turn your eyes to the right.”
At Airinna’s easy read, Contanias’s brow twisted.
But she paid it no mind and continued.
“Instead, what I heard was only that if I came to find you, I could protect the Empire—and that if I didn’t come find you, I’d die before long.”
At those words, Serdea looked at Contanias.
He was staring at Airinna without any particular reaction.
Serdea took a deep breath.
“Let me say this first. I only gathered you here because of her. Let that be understood before we begin.”
With that explanation, Serdea began in earnest to relay what she had heard from Yutia.
And after some time passed—
“...Honestly, it’s hard to believe.”
“But it’s also not something we can choose not to believe.”
The three fell silent.
In truth, there was no one here who could determine whether what she had said was true or false.
Naturally so.
She had spoken of the future.
Unless one actually lived through that future, there was no way to judge whether her words were true.
And yet, despite that, they had no choice but to believe Yutia’s words.
No—more precisely, they could not afford not to.
Because of one sentence she had left behind.
‘If time passes and you still do not do it, then I’ll have no choice but to replace your heads.’
A warning delivered in an absurdly light tone.
‘It’s something that has to be done anyway.’
And yet for those who had seen the real her, it landed with unbearable weight.
“...Ugh.”
As if to show they had all heard the same words, Contanias’s face turned deathly pale, and he started retching.
Even so, neither Airinna nor Serdea looked at him with contempt.
Even if they did not show it, they felt much the same way he did.
“Hoo—”
Letting out a breath, Airinna recalled that time.
The moment that utterly ordinary Seeker had simply smiled and looked at her.
Airinna had not used her ability when looking at her.
Strictly speaking, it would be more correct to say she could not.
Because Airinna’s ability did not work on her.
And yet, even though her ability did not work, she still knew.
It was instinct.
Not because she was an emperor.
Just simple instinct.
The instinct any human being, any living thing in this world, would possess.
That instinct told her—
the being before her was incomprehensible.
So after sighing, Airinna soon turned her eyes to Contanias.
“Come to think of it, did the guardian dragon say anything?”
“...The guardian dragon already entered slumber long ago.”
At that, she fell silent for a moment, then this time thought not of her, but of someone else.
More precisely, the man she followed while calling him her teacher—
The man who held not one, but four flames when even Divine blood possessed only one.
‘This was probably something he ordered.’
She knew.
That the woman who had come to find her followed that man.
“Hoo—”
Airinna’s body trembled faintly.
What exactly that man was plotting, she had no way of knowing.
But if there was one thing that was certain, it was that she had only one choice.
And so—
Airinna looked into the eyes of the siblings sitting here with her.
As though they had been thinking the same thing, the other two met her gaze with hardened expressions.
And then—
“Then let’s begin by discussing who will do what.”
“As that man intended.”
Along with the alliance, the meeting began in earnest.
A meeting that had started with Yutia—
...and yet, for some reason, had become mixed with a rather strange misunderstanding.
And while that meeting, along with yet another misunderstanding Alon knew nothing about, was proceeding in the Empire—
Alon was standing before Sili and the ultra-colossal giant statue.
“...So that’s your ability?”
“Yes!”
“The ability to move that giant statue?”
“Mm—more precisely, I gained the ability to make statues move.”
At Sili’s words, Alon unconsciously put a hand to his head.
“The ability to move statues...”
“That might be kind of cool...?”
murmured Penia and Evan from beside him.
[Oh—]
[Qyu—]
Basiliora and Blackie also let out sounds of admiration while looking up at the statue of Alon with its arms folded.
But—
only Alon, at a loss for words, stared at Sili.
An utterly bright smile hung at the corners of her mouth.
“So you gained a control-type ability?”
“Yes! And on top of that, it strengthens various things too.”
“...Strengthens?”
“Yes!”
For a moment he was curious what exactly it strengthened, but Alon decided not to ask.
Since the statue’s eyes had begun glowing blue from the moment Sili took control of it, he had a feeling anything simple was out of the question.
Instead, Alon recalled the question Sili had asked yesterday.
“But, Sili.”
“Yes. Go ahead!”
“I understand your ability now, but... what does this have to do with Basiliora?”
At that, Sili answered at once.
“If you’re going to keep riding Basiliora around, Lord Alon, I was thinking maybe I could add it to the giant statue.”
“Add it?”
“Yes! Of course, because of the size, I’d have to make it a little smaller.”
“...Is there really any reason to add a statue of Basiliora?”
“Of course there is! If you keep riding it regularly, then I can move that too!”
At Sili’s explanation, Alon sensed something odd.
“...Can’t you just move a statue of Basiliora?”
“Mm, no. That’s not it. The only thing I can move is a statue of Lord Alon.”
“Only my statue?”
“Yes! And if it’s related to Lord Alon, I can move that too!”
“...Really?”
“Yes, really!”
Only then did Alon understand why Sili had asked about Basiliora, but at the same time, he could not help finding it strange.
Because some bizarre restriction had been attached even though it was not a law.
“Have you tried moving any other statues?”
So he asked an additional question, and Sili nodded.
“Yes. I tried, but I couldn’t move anything except statues carved in your likeness, Lord Alon.”
“I... see.”
Alon lifted his gaze.
Filling his field of vision was a giant statue so enormous that, if size alone determined the strength of a fight, it looked capable of beating down even three first-tier Divine blood at once.
Some time later—
Alon gave permission for a statue of Basiliora to be made.
But he still found no answer as to why Sili could only move statues of Alon and statues related to him.
For the moment, Alon came back up.
“Evan.”
“Yes.”
“Where did you say the star roots were?”
“I heard they’re gathered near Ashtalon. Are you thinking of going right away?”
“Yes. Since we’re already out, /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ we may as well. The travel time isn’t long anyway, so we can go and come back.”
The sun had not yet climbed to the middle of the sky.
Just as Alon checked the time and was about to start getting ready—
thump!
The white cat, Kalannon, jumped onto the desk.
“...Kalannon?”
When Alon called out, Kalannon nodded, then promptly tapped the desk a few times.
As if telling him to sit down.
Though puzzled, Alon vaguely realized Kalannon wanted to talk and sat in his seat.
At that moment—
scratchscratchscratch—!
[Kyik!?]
Blackie sprang out and smacked Kalannon on the head just as it tried to approach Alon.
Startled, Kalannon tumbled backward, then put on an aggrieved expression.
“Blackie. You mustn’t do that.”
When Alon lifted Blackie and gently admonished it, Blackie tilted its head, then slipped back into his pocket once more.
Still looking wronged, Kalannon cautiously crept closer and placed a paw on the back of Alon’s hand.
At the same time—
“That’s so mean! At least stop it for me in advance!”
A familiar voice rang out, and a dawn-colored Milky Way spread out.
“Sorry. I didn’t react in time either.”
The girl raised both hands over her head and teared up.
Feeling awkward, Alon scratched his cheek.
At that, Kalannon went, “Ugh—” then let out a sigh.
“Whatever. That’s just my lot in life...”
“Hadn’t you said things were going well lately?”
“No fair refusing to sympathize and going straight for the facts!”
“So then, what is it?”
After exchanging their own sort of greetings, Alon gave a small shrug, and Kalannon’s sulky expression quickly eased.
“One good thing happened, but it seemed like you didn’t know, so I came to tell you.”
“Something good happened that I don’t know about?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“I think you should be able to manifest fully now.”
At Kalannon’s words, Alon was momentarily bewildered.
“All of a sudden? Last time, didn’t you say it would only be possible after I had built up enough image?”
“I did. But now you’re already at a point where full manifestation should be possible. And there’s awe from beings that aren’t ordinary humans too.”
“...Beings that aren’t human?”
“Yes. Mm—would that be those Divine blood? Each and every one of them really is extraordinary.”
Kalannon nodded as if amazed even upon seeing it again.
“Anyway, it didn’t seem like you knew for sure yet, so I thought I should tell you.”
“That is good news.”
“Of course it is.”
Kalannon answered forcefully.
Watching that, Alon suddenly asked,
“But if I manifest this time, what form will I take?”
“This time?”
“Yes. I can’t quite picture it. Last time, didn’t you say I would change into the form my believers most believed in?”
“If you manifest, it’ll probably be like that.”
Then Kalannon let out a short exclamation, as if something had occurred to it.
“Ah, if you’re curious, I can show you a rough version by force if you want.”
“Mm?”
“Since we’re connected, showing you the form you’d have when manifested isn’t difficult.”
“In that case, would it be too much to ask?”
“Not at all!”
Kalannon immediately shut its eyes.
As Alon watched it, he unconsciously stroked his chin.
‘What kind of form would it be?’
He had not given it much thought until now, but hearing that he could finally manifest made anticipation start to rise.
‘If it’s the form I showed the Divine blood, then it would be from when I used Sniping of Oblivion, so maybe it’ll turn into something like that? Or if not, after that it got out of control and stars appeared, so maybe it’ll have that kind of feeling.’
Well, either way, neither would be bad.
Just as Alon, wandering alone through his imagination, was inwardly satisfied—
“It should appear any second now.”
No sooner had Kalannon finished speaking than a huge distortion formed before them.
And the very first thing Alon saw, his eyes full of expectation, was—
a gigantic eye.
An eye so enormous it sent chills down his spine.
And the next thing he saw—
was countless gigantic clusters of stars connected to that eye, almost like parasites,
while around all of it surged an abyss that looked as though it could swallow everything whole.
And that was not all.
Around the abyss, strange text broke apart and reformed over and over, drifting around the eye like dust.
As though—
‘Make something that would instantly convince anyone that if it appeared in this world, it would mean the end of the world’—
had been taken as an order and output into a vaguely Cthulhu-like form.
“...What is this?”
Alon barely managed to ask.
“Uh... I think that’s the form you’d have when manifested?”
Kalannon answered matter-of-factly.
Alon rubbed his eyes, then checked again.
‘...That’s my image??’
A shock so great he could not even close his mouth crashed over him.

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